Cornell played large scientific role on Cassini mission

By:
Blaine Friedlander,
Cornell ChronicleSun, 09/10/2017

NASA is calling the Cassini mission’s last hurrah the Grand Finale. After cruising seven years to Saturn and spending 13 years strolling its neighborhood, on Sept. 15 the spacecraft ends its mission by plunging into the ringed planet’s atmosphere, breaking into fiery shards.

“We have had a remarkable history with Cassini. But one of the most remarkable aspects of the Cassini mission is its multigenerational nature,” said Alex Hayes ’03, M.Eng. ’04, assistant professor of astronomy. “There are at least five generations of scientists reflected in the Cassini science team.”

FAREWELL TO CASSINI

The Department of Astronomy will hold a community farewell celebration for the Cassini mission on Sept. 15 in 105 Space Sciences Building. The event will begin at 7:30 a.m.

Cassini launched Oct. 15, 1997, and reached Saturn in June 2004. Dozens of professors, researchers and students worked on the craft’s imaging radar team, the imaging system camera, the visual and infrared mapping spectrometer and the composite infrared spectrometer. Joe Burns, Ph.D. ’66, the Irving Porter Church Professor of Engineering and professor of astronomy; Phil Nicholson, professor of astronomy; Jonathan Lunine, the David C. Duncan Professor in the Physical Sciences; Peter Gierasch, professor emeritus of astronomy; and Steve Squyres ’81, the James A Weeks Professor of Physical Sciences were among the early Cornell scientists on the mission.

Lunine explained that Cornell’s involvement with missions like Cassini attracts bright students. “The opportunity to make discoveries with Cassini data newly returned to Earth – as has happened multiple times – makes Cornell an irresistible place for the next generation of space talent,” he said.

“Working with the Cassini data has been invaluable,” Kelland said. “It is a challenge to organize and analyze large datasets, all the while addressing new questions in planetary science.”

Cassini provided knowledge of uncharted territory in the solar system, but the mission’s legacy includes student-scientists. Hayes, who as a Cornell undergraduate gained extensive experience working on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover missions, said: “Cassini provided a unique opportunity to inject students into large collaborations and expose them to new data where their ability – not their age or status – determined the level to which they became involved.